Back to familiar terrain... in Boyden 8-19-2012

After our previous adventures in exotic locales like central New York state and Stowe, Mass, we were eager to get back to some of the local places that are in our rotation. We'd planned on Borderland on Saturday and Boyden for Sunday, but since the weather was crappy (cool and rainy) on Saturday, we saved Borderland for the next week. Sunday, it was all Boyden for us!

We had some Fifties Diner brekkie (I had a strawberry-topped Belgian waffle!) and got to Boyden at roughly 9:30 AM. Things started off fairly slow but 'phibby...

A Pickerel Frog!


A lovely American Toad!


Redbacks and Leadbacks, too!



We were well into the hike when I said "I just don't feel like I have my snake eyes on today!" Just then, Andrea, 10 feet behind me, grabbed a feisty Garter Snake that I guess I had walked right past!

He flattened like a bookmark and struck, but didn't manage a bite!




With a squamate under our belts (not literally, mind you) we felt a bit better. Good enough to find this young American Toad anyway!

(Here's one of my faux nature shots that isn't fooling anyone!!

Here's a brute!


Remember when we couldn't get any Pickerel shots? Piece of cake now!


With turtle egg hatching season almost upon us, we kept looking for wee ones, but with no luck. Some adult Painted Turtles were basking despite the slightly overcast day.


It's tough to see, but this one is a triple-stack!

A family of Swans was also swimming about.


Did I hear someone ask about Green Frogs? Here's one!


We were digging through our favorite AC (artificial cover), rotting carpeting, and were surprised by a newcomer (to us) for Boyden... a Dekay's Snake!

This guy was very blue and would be even more beautiful after a shed!


We put him back to enjoy his lovely, moist home...

Nice! It's always exciting to add another species to a place!

Next up was a rather odd surprise... another Dekay's!!!

We hadn't seen one in 5 years at Boyden, now here are two within a half hour!


We saw some more toads, too...

This guy was in a tire!

This guy was inspecting Andrea's bandaged rowing wounds!


This teeny Pickerel was enjoying his rotted carpet home, too!


This guy was bigger and bolder!


So, we went back the way we came in and decided that, since we had blown of Saturday, that we had energy enough to keep hiking to a part of Boyden that we rarely go to. We checked in at the bunk beds first and saw this Garter skin...


This had happened in the 3 1/2 hours since we were last here! A perfect shed, still damp! We set about to try to find the former owner of the skin.

It wasn't this Pickerel...


Or this Painted Turtle!


Or this happy couple enjoying a tire together!


We were walking along a closed path (being very careful, of course) and I looked at the water's edge and said "this looks like a great spot for snakes"! Andrea, looking at the other side of the path grabbed a Ribbon Snake, sort of in agreement with my statement!

He was feisty and bit her on the band-aid!


Thank goodness Andrea had her snake eyes on!

We saw this very happy mushroom, too...


And a Green Stink Bug Nymph!


Heading back through the Fragrance Garden, we decided to flip a bit more, since it had been about 5 1/2 hours since we were last there... Andrea found an inquisitive Garter!




I countered with a shoestring Garter!

Know why we call them that?



So, after 6+ hours, we were officially toast. But happy toast to be sure! A new species added (Dekay's), 3 species of snakes found and tons of frogs and fun! Thanks, Boyden!